TRP: Mishka and Roddy (Son Jail)
'COYOTE ' Day 277. The castle. Mishka got a letter from Sugar. She was still in Calimport. She was doing well. She’d opened her own shop as a scribe, and she was making good money, working on her sorcery in her free time. Mishka missed her. It seemed like she was happy, though; seemed like she didn’t really have a taste for adventure. Mishka read it idly. He unfolded it and folded it, and he kept it in his pocket until it fell to pieces. She enjoyed her routine. She did the same thing every day, more or less, and seemed to love it. She was calm and happy, and she didn’t need him. He missed her. She called him oppa in her letters, which meant big brother. It felt… good she was off on her own, taking care of herself. He supposed that meant he’d done a good job mentoring her. He reread her letter for the twelfth time, then went downstairs to eat for the night. He wondered idly where Roddy was. Hadn’t seen him all day. 'ABBY ' Roddy was miserable. His head hurt, he'd already thrown up twice, and might have thrown up again if he had anything left in his stomach. Everything was too loud, too bright, and the current guard on duty thought it was funny to clatter things really loudly and laugh as Roddy tried vainly to block out the noises. He was so hungover. This was all Jasper's fault, somehow. He'd decided to go drinking, and since Jasper wasn't around to start trouble Roddy had to take up the slack-- and now he was having a sharp reminder why he tried to tell Jasper to stop when she got it into her head to throw chairs at people. That one guy's face had been really funny though, just before it'd smacked into him. Now, Roddy was fully capable of popping out all on his own. He was a grown bard who could take care of himself. But the idea of transporting right now... made his stomach roil. And also sounded like a headache, concentrating on that, and a location, and... everything else. So Roddy picked a different tactic. Miiiiiiiishka he Sent. I got drunk and thrown in jail and am too hungover to bust myself out. Pick me up? 'COYOTE ' Mishka choked on a breadstick. God damn it, he thought. He wiped his mouth. "Ah, where are you? Roddy. What jail. There are a lot of jails. Glimmerton? Skyport?" God. 'ABBY ' Back in his cell Roddy groaned. Ugh. His head huuuurt too much for spellcasting. And he didn't have his lute. Made the headache so much worse. Glimmerton he Sent back. My head hurts. 'COYOTE ' Glimmerton. That was convenient. "Stay there, sweetheart. I'll come shortly, alright? Sit tight. Don't start anything." 'ABBY ' "I'm too hungover to bust myself out, why would I start anything?" Roddy grumbled to himself. Didn't Send this time though. Mishka was on his way, Roddy could just wait and suffer till he got there. 'COYOTE ' Mishka laced up his boots and padded down to the jail. He lazily entertained dramatic daydreams (blowing up the jail, leaving a tortle corpse behind burned in the wreckage to fake Roddy’s death— but how would he get a tortle corpse? Too rare— perhaps he could just imitate a guard and crack Roddy out instead) before finally deciding he’d just go pay the fine. They lived here. Mishka didn’t want to cause drama where he lived. Mishka tossed some gold on the counter when he got there. “Pardon me. I’m looking for my tortle.” The guard grumbled at him, but got up. She accepted the gold Mishka offered, which suggested perhaps it was too much, but— ah well. The guard led him back to a cell where Roddy was slumped. Mishka crossed his arms and tapped his foot. “Rodger Hammerstein the Third.” 'ABBY ' Upon hearing a familiar voice, Roddy looked up. Yep there was Mishka. And it sounded like Roddy was in trouble. Whoops? "Hey Mishka," he called, giving a little grin and wave. "I'm in jail," he added. 'COYOTE ' The guard started to unlock the cell door, but Mishka held up his hand to stop her. “What’ve I told you about crime?” 'ABBY ' "...Not to do it here," Roddy mumbled. 'COYOTE ' “Exactly. Now I have to pay a fine instead of just breaking you out or something.” The guard gave Mishka a wide-eyed look. The guard unlocked the door and gestured for Roddy to come out. Mishka stepped inside and offered Roddy a hand up. 'ABBY ' Roddy accepted the hand up, hunching his shoulders. "I can pay you back?" Mishka was... well not mad maybe but he wasn't happy. Roddy didn't like it, when Mishka was... disappointed? In him. "Sorry," he added quietly. 'COYOTE ' Mishka staggered a little when he helped Roddy up. He steered Roddy towards the door. “No, no, motek. It’s fine. I’m only teasing. I mean— don’t get arrested in the same town you live in, certainly, but you don’t have to pay me back, motek. Why would you?” He said it idly, not really paying attention to what he was saying. 'ABBY ' "Cause I shouldn't get arrested and make you come bail me out," Roddy said, allowing himself to be steered. "I was really, really drunk?" 'COYOTE ' “Mm. Don’t get that drunk, my love. Not unless someone else is with you. Buddy system.” 'ABBY ' "Yeah okay," Roddy agreed. Made sense. Maybe next time he'd see if Mishka wanted to go get drunk with him. That might be fun. In a few days-- the first few times he'd had this bad a hangover he'd sworn off drinking completely. Oh hey wait a second. "Hey," he said, tugging at Mishka's sleeve. "It's not Hammerstein any more." 'COYOTE ' “Oh? It’s not?” Mishka said, still a bit distracted. 'ABBY ' "No. I changed it. Sterling-Bell now. Like Jo-- like Luci and Hansel. And you." 'COYOTE ' “Haha, that’s cute,” Mishka said, amused. “Sure. Sterling-Bell.” Mishka Bell and Rodger Bell. “Rodger Sterling-Bell. Hey, y’know what, that sounds even better in the disappointed-dad voice.” He started humming absentmindedly to himself. Something was niggling at him about this, but he couldn’t put his finger on what it was. Ha, weird. 'ABBY ' Roddy twitched a little. He didn't like disappointing his dads. "Mhm yeah. Like it better when you're happy with me though, Pops." Roddy froze. Ah no. He'd said that aloud. Maybe Mishka hadn't noticed...? 'COYOTE ' Uh. Mishka missed a beat, and tripped over a cobblestone, and caught himself on the wall. Uh, Mishka thought. Uh. He went back his past interactions with Roddy in his head. Coming to get Roddy and paying his bail automatically. Feeling vaguely responsible for him, the same way he felt vaguely responsible for Sugar. When he’d heard Roddy died during the capture of the Sanctuary, Mishka had felt— extremely alarmed about that, and gotten very upset, and talked Hansel’s ear off about what would happen if a bad god claimed Roddy’s soul— God motherfucking damn it, Mishka thought to himself. God motherfucking damn it. He just went through this with fucking Larkin, and before that, with Goro, and before that, with Hansel. This time was— different, though, alarming in a new way, because this was Hansel’s kid, and Mishka was kind’ve responsible for him, now, and— Mishka was dead silent, too distracted by the cogs whirring in his head. 'ABBY ' Mishka wasn't saying anything. Mishka was tripping and looking alarmed and not saying anything. Roddy was too hungover for this. "Uh, uh it's okay!!" Roddy said, starting to pat Mishka's back, but changing his mind and clasping his hands behind his back. "Just. Just a slip of the tongue. I'm very hungover and stuff. Thinking about dad and then you know. Things. Slip out? I didn't-- didn't--" He couldn't quite bring himself to say he didn't mean it. "Look uh we can just forget I said anything okay? Just. Pretend it didn't happen. Okay?" 'COYOTE ' Mishka tensed, a little, and he knew what he should do is take a step back and think about this— move carefully, because Roddy was only eighteen or so, and Mishka didn’t want to fuck him up— But what happened, instead, was Mishka thought to himself, I’m a terrible fucking person. I should nip this in the bud before Roddy starts to think I’m, like... nice and reliable and shit. He thought, Anybody who gets close to me, I’m just gonna fucking burn them. I always do. Roddy’s not tough enough for that, like Goro and Hansel. So he said, “Oh, that’s good. God, I can’t believe you called me Pops. That’s mortifying.” And he immediately regretted it. 'ABBY ' Oh. Well. Not unexpected but... It cut deep. Course Mishka didn't want to be his dad. Dad was the only one who ever had, and he was... a rare exception Roddy was lucky to find. "Yeah, mortifying," Roddy said hollowly. "And stupid. Oughta teach me not to do that again right?" He ducked his head, hoping Mishka didn't notice his eyes were getting wet. Don't call attention to it by reaching up to rub at them. 'COYOTE ' Mishka felt like he’d just shot a puppy with a crossbow. Well fuck it. He’d already cracked things a little— might as well stomp on it. That’s what Mikhail Haeth did. Had to make things broke thoroughly. Mikhail Haeth didn’t fucking do things halfway. “Yeah,” Mishka said. “I mean, it’s not like it bothers me, it’s just amusing—“ Mishka shut his mouth right then. He thought about going harder, maybe saying something like, It’s just embarrassing for you. I mean, I know you’re desperate for family members, but it’s not your fault. You probably just feel that way since your first couple pairs of parents didn’t want you. Anyway, I’m feeling gracious, so I won’t mention it to anyone else. You’re drunk, motek. He couldn’t do it. He didn’t have that amount of ice in him anymore. Well, he did, maybe, but it was reserved for folks he didn’t like. Not... Roddy, or Raef, or... not Larkin anymore. Never Goro, or Hansel. 'ABBY ' Didn't bother him. Well. Coulda been worse then. Mishka just... thought it was petty and small. Wasn't scared. (Unless he was faking and the next thing Roddy knew Mishka wasn't talking to him any more.) "Haha yep. Amusing. That's... me. Good old goofy Roddy." Roddy kept his head down, staring at the dusty streets. "Good joke though huh?" he said. Oh no he was gonna be babbling now. "I mean I already got one dad what do I need two for? Nah. I got a good family already I mean, why'd I want to go upset that dynamic? That'd be stupid. Real stupid. So. That's why it's a good thing it's a joke right?" 'COYOTE ' "Mmhm," Mishka said, nodding with his mouth shut. He was not fucking opening his mouth again. Except, fuck, not saying anything could also be a bad thing, or a good thing, or the wrong thing, or... fuck, fuck, fuck. 'ABBY ' With every passing second Roddy could feel the cut getting deeper. Mishka wasn't even talking now really. Just... agreeing noises. Nodding his head. Like Roddy wasn't even important enough to acknowledge. "I'm gonna pop ahead," he said abruptly. "Seeya around." And he murmured a line to a song and vanished. Ow that hurt his head, but-- he had some space now. Space enough to scrub at his eyes and flee to his room. Stupid. He'd known saying anything to Mishka about that was gonna backfire. Knew it. Now he couldn't even pretend. Shoulda just been happy with one dad. Stupid stupid stupid. 'COYOTE ' end Title: Son Jail Summary: After Mishka bails him out of jail, Roddy accidentally calls Mishka "Pops," triggering some awkwardness. Category:Text Roleplay